A Bear, a Bull and a Boom

Hong Kong, June 1997: Beijing Yanhua, a giant PRC petrochemical company, is aiming for a market debut before the colony's handover. Yanhua has a great story: rapidly cutting costs, it's a market leader in the high end of China's petrochemical market - a market that is growing rapidly. But worldwide market forces are stacking up against this IPO: the international petrochemical cycle is in a downturn and won't hit bottom for another year and a half. Analysts are skeptical about the prospects